LMDE is shaping up into a nice distro

[Nick_Djinn]

Not a perfect or bug free distro, but a quite nice experience using it. Lately I have been avoiding all Ubuntu based distros as they all seem buggy thanks to Conanical, especially previously Gnome based distros. I hate Unity and don't like the direction Ubuntu is taking.

Lately I have been going back and forth between the Debian edition and Liquid Lemer with gnome added......In some ways LMDE feels a lot more polished with Lemur feeling more like Crunchbang with hacks....but I can customize it and add Gnome.


I am feeling a lack of apps in LMDE though. I actually feel like there is more apps in Lemur, especially when it comes to penetration testing and multi-media....but the basic interface feels nicer in LMDE. I like Mint Menu and Mint tools.


Right now I am missing Linux Multi-Media-Studio, and general music recording and pen test software. Does anyone know of any repos I can add to increase my software selection?

What kernel is the new spin using? Its not overheating like the ubuntu releases were on my AMD machine.

[vrkalak]

I'm not sure, but my original LMDE install, (with the mint-debian-'incoming' repros) upgraded the kernel to 3.0.3

Every Debian Repro you might ever want or need > http://sites.google.com/site/mydebiansourceslist/

[graeme]

I gave up Mint (after trying KDE and XFCE editions) because they were buggy - and almost all the bugs I could not live with came from Ubuntu.

LMDE is doing everything right: solid base, all the good stuff form Mint and a conservative approach to Gnome 3.

I always liked Gnomes elegance, but there were always things that did not work for me (e.g. file management and editing on remote servers was less smooth than KDE). LMDE is the first Gnome desktop that works for me.

Lemur looks less mature, and has a small community. Other than that it looks promising, but I need solid at the moment. If I was in a mood to experiment I would try Unity Linux. I am not, so its LMDE for the foreseeable future (on the shared family PC, going on my laptop soon).

[Nick_Djinn]

So Im using Gnome 3 right now and 3.0 kernel if I am using the new spin updated?

[vrkalak]

So Im using Gnome 3 right now and 3.0 kernel if I am using the new spin updated?

Theoretically, LMDE is a rolling release based on Debian's Testing branch.

The new 'snapshot' of LMDE will be released on a monthly basis for now.

If you, already, have working LMDE - you should never have to re-install the OS.
So if you want to install a 'fresh' LMDE - it should never be more than a month old.

[Dave W.]

Hello,
Yesterday, I installed LMDE 64bit rc XFCE, after wiping out my approx 800 MB updated original install, and I have to say that I'm quite impressed. I installed the latest Nvidia driver for my desktop using sgfxi and it is running very well.
I like the new method of updating and although I realze that it is "experimental", I find that it has been easy to set up and so far, works like it should.

My only sticking point has been the menu opening delay after the initial right click. This is certainly minor and after that initial opening, works like it should.

I know that I will be placing LMDE on a few boxes in the future.

Thanks,
Dave

[ThistleWeb]

I wasn't all that impressed with the original spins of LMDE, they felt kinda half done. The XFCE spin did not gracefully upgrade from 4.6 to 4.8, so that was held back, which felt odd as it was in the repos. I left Mint for a while then gave the new spin a go, I'm very impressed. It's 4.8 out of the box, the awkward font issues and right click issues with the default theme are still there, but using a different theme fixes that. Early days but LMDE seems on the up and up.

[Dave W.]

and right click issues with the default theme are still there, but using a different theme fixes that.

Thanks for that tip ThistleWeb! I'll have to try that!

Dave

[ThistleWeb]

and right click issues with the default theme are still there, but using a different theme fixes that.

Thanks for that tip ThistleWeb! I'll have to try that!

Dave

The default Mint theme has lots of weird side effects, it has had for several editions now. I guess it'll eventually be sorted but in the meantime the easy solution is just pick a different theme. It's a shame because many people don't think to check the theme as the possible culprit, I know I wouldn't unless I knew it was the culprit. They put it down to the distro being buggy when it's really not.

[graeme]

Mint is quite a buggy distro. LMDE atleast gets rid of most of the Ubuntu bugs, but there are plenty more. In less than two weeks us using LMDE I have come across package incompatibilities between Mint and Debian Testing (so a package from the Debian Testing repo will not install) and bugs in Mint software (specifically Mint Install does not work).

The question to me is, what does Mint offer that Debian Testing + Debian Multimedia does not, that is worth the extra bugs?

[Murdock]

Just go get salineOS and forget the fluff. I still have Mint10 on a few machines but salineOS is smoking fast and every bit as stable as mint 10.

[Nick_Djinn]

I like my bells and whistles. My machine can handle it. I dont like doing things the hard way, and I like tons and tons of repositories, and newer 'testing' branch software.

I am avoiding Ubuntu because I dont like they direction they are talking.....Even Pinguy and Mint Main were fast enough for me for most things.

I also need a distro that is good for pen-testing, privacy, and yet also is multi-media rich and is good for recording.

[graeme]

My objections to something like SalineOS is that the Debian backports repos are not all that comprehensive. so you are likely to end up with less than the latest packages, especially as Squeeze gets older.

I am also not sure what it offers that Debian itself (with non-free repos and possibly Debian multimedia) does not offer.

If you want a Debian stable based distro I would go for Mepis. I think that even the light version of Mepis (Antix) can use Debian stable repos (but it defaults to testing). It is also very fast and light.

If you do not need extreme stability, then you can stay with Mint and use the XFCE edition of Mint, or wait for the LXDE edition. There is also nothing stopping you from installing a light desktop and apps on Mint. I am using Gnome, but with Openbox, and I use some lightweight alternatives to the default apps (Sylpheed, for example).